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Could Mark Ingram leave the New Orleans Saints after the 2017 NFL season?

Posted November 25, 2017 at 11:22 AM

New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram poses with fans after the team posted its eighth straight victory with an overtime win against the Washington Redskins NFL game in New Orleans on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017. (AP Photo)

Running back Mark Ingram's big season has raised the possibility that he won't be back with the New Orleans Saints in 2018.

How's that?

Ingram signed a four-year, $16 million contract with the Saints in March 2015, a few days before the former Alabama All-American would have become a free agent at the end of his four-year rookie contract.

Ingram was coming off his only Pro Bowl season when he signed the deal with the Saints. ESPN reported at the time that Ingram could void the final season of the contract if he made the Pro Bowl in 2016 and 2017 or made The Associated Press' All-Pro team for the 2017 season.

Ingram wasn't invited to the Pro Bowl in 2016, even though he turned in the first 1,000-yard rushing season of his career, so that clause doesn't apply.

So what are Ingram's chances of making All-Pro this season?

He seems to be a contender, if he keeps up his current production. But it will be a tougher achievement than it was before the 2016 season.

Until last year, the All-Pro team included two running backs. But last year, the AP finally acknowledged the changing times -- NFL teams don't line up with two running backs in the backfield anymore -- and reconfigured the All-Pro team to have one running back and one flex position, which could have been a third wide receiver, an H-back/tight end type or another running back, especially one with all-star ability as a ball-carrier and a pass-catcher.

Ezekiel Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys was the NFL's leading rusher in 2016 and the All-Pro running back, getting 47 of the 50 votes. Those three votes went to David Johnson of the Arizona Cardinals.

Johnson still made All-Pro, though, because his versatility as a runner and receiver earned him the most votes in the new flex position. He got 24 votes to finish ahead of Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell, who had 18. The other eight votes went to four wide receivers, one running back and one tight end.

Elliott is sidelined for six games by NFL suspension, and Johnson suffered a dislocated wrist in the opening game of the season and hasn't played since. So they're out of the All-Pro picture for 2017.

Ingram ranks fourth in the NFL in rushing yards with 806, behind former Gardendale High School and UAB star Jordan Howard (841) of the Chicago Bears, rookie Kareem Hunt (873) of the Kansas City Chiefs and Bell (886).

Ingram is tied with Todd Gurley of the Los Angeles Rams for the NFL lead in rushing touchdowns at eight. Gurley ranks fifth in rushing yards with 791.

Gurley leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage with 1,261, followed by Hunt and Bell. Ingram is fifth with 1,019 yards behind Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown.

The leading pass-catcher among the NFL's running backs in 2017 is Carolina Panthers rookie Christian McCaffrey with 57 receptions. Bell, Ingram's teammate Alvin Kamara, the New England Patriots' James White, the San Francisco 49ers' Carlos Hyde and the Buffalo Bills' LeSean McCoy have between 49 and 42 receptions.

The bulk of Ingram's production has come in the past six games after the Saints traded running back Adrian Peterson to the Arizona Cardinals. Since then, Ingram and Kamara have blossomed.

In the past six games, Ingram has run for 636 yards and eight touchdowns on 113 carries and caught 19 passes for 89 yards. Kamara, a former Alabama redshirt, has run for 376 yards and three touchdowns on 57 carries and caught 29 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns. The Saints have won all six games.

Ingram told ESPN he always thought he could perform at an All-Pro level on the NFL.

"I've always known it," Ingram said. "I've always had that belief in myself. I've always had that confidence in myself. I just feel like I needed the opportunity to be able to present myself. (Bell and Johnson) are always on the field all the time. I just feel like given the same situation, I could produce the same way. Those are elite players.

"It motivates you. And I always believed in myself that I'd be able to accomplish those kinds of numbers and those kinds of accolades if I had the opportunity."

Saints coach Sean Payton has never used a workhorse approach at running back. In his previous 10 seasons of calling the plays for New Orleans, Payton has never allowed one running back to exceed 55.7 percent of the team's carries. (Ingram reached the figure in his Pro Bowl season.)

Last year, Ingram played 46.1 percent of his team's offensive snaps, the lowest figure among the NFL's 12 1,000-yard rushers in 2016. This year, Ingram has played 53 percent of the Saints' snaps.

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But would Ingram want to leave the Saints after eight seasons in New Orleans for a new contract? Leave the Saints -- maybe not. But it certainly would be in his best interests to get a new contract after the 2017 season if he can.

So Ingram already will rank among the top-paid running backs in the NFL on his current deal. But a new contract would come with a signing bonus, guaranteed money and extend past the 2018 season. And a new contract wouldn't necessarily mean he'd leave the Saints. If he had the ability to void his contract after this season, Ingram could use that leverage to work out an extension with New Orleans or he could re-sign with the Saints after hitting free agency in March.

Ingram and the Saints will return to the field at 3:25 p.m. CST Sunday when they visit the Los Angeles Rams.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.